


because you are my heart

by Patricia_Sage



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Barry Bluejeans & Taako Friendship, Barry Bluejeans Loves Lup, Barry Bluejeans and Lup in Love, Campaign: Balance (The Adventure Zone), Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Good Friend Magnus Burnsides, Good Friend Merle Highchurch, Good Sibling Lup (The Adventure Zone), Good Sibling Taako (The Adventure Zone), Hurt/Comfort, IPRE Crew | Starblaster Crew as Family, Kravitz Loves Taako (The Adventure Zone), Kravitz and Taako in Love (The Adventure Zone), Lup Angst (The Adventure Zone), M/M, Magnus Burnsides & Lup Friendship, Mentioned IPRE Crew | Starblaster Crew, Minor Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone), Nerd Barry Bluejeans, Post-Episode: e067-069 Story and Song Parts 1-3, Reaper Lup (The Adventure Zone), Reclaimer Lup (The Adventure Zone), Sizzle It Up with Taako (The Adventure Zone), Spoilers, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Spoilers for Episode: e067-069 Story and Song Parts 1-3, Taako & Lup Week, Taako Angst (The Adventure Zone), Taako Backstory (The Adventure Zone), Taako Character Study (The Adventure Zone), Taako Needs a Hug (The Adventure Zone)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28233588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patricia_Sage/pseuds/Patricia_Sage
Summary: Barry goes down to the lab every morning. One rainy day, about two and a half weeks from the initial implantation, he comes up the stairs with an excited expression on his round face. “I’ve got some news –”He doesn’t get the chance to finish because Lup is already sprinting past him. They hear the sound of shattering glass. “It has a latch...” Barry mumbles, his head in his hands. They would have to go to the black markets to find another tube, now.The footsteps on the stairs sound much more solid coming up than they had been running down. The door is kicked open and there’s Lup in her corporeal form.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans & Magnus Burnsides, Barry Bluejeans & Magnus Burnsides & Davenport & Merle Highchurch & Lucretia & Lup & Taako, Barry Bluejeans & Merle Highchurch, Barry Bluejeans & Taako, Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Davenport & The Director | Lucretia, Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone), Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), Magnus Burnsides & Lup, Magnus Burnsides & Taako, Merle Highchurch & Lup, Merle Highchurch & Taako, The Director | Lucretia & Lup
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	because you are my heart

Lup is incredibly impatient to get her body back. She rambles to Barry over their post-Hunger-battle celebratory dinner about how they could alter Taako’s DNA. But her boyfriend interrupts her, red-faced and mumbling something Taako can’t hear. He hears his sister’s reply, though. 

“Babe, that is so creepy. I love you so much.”

Taako kicks her boot from across the table. “What?”

Her white-toothed grin glows from within the black, wispy shape of her face. “Barry saved a lock of my hair like an absolute weirdo.” Barry flushes with embarrassment as everyone turns to listen. “But you know what that means – mama’s gettin’ her body back!” 

Magnus cheers from beside Taako, raising his glass of mead in a single-person toast. “How long will it take to grow?” the wizard asks. 

Barry takes off his glasses and cleans them, something he does about ten times a day. “I’d say about a couple weeks.”

“Fuck yes!” the twins say in unison. 

Magnus, being the rustically hospitable man that he is, allows them to use his basement as a science lab. He’s the only one besides Merle who has a house. Lucretia still lives on the moon; Davenport is traveling; and Taako has a small apartment in New Phandalin. Lup and Barry have a place in the Astral Plane, but they had a feeling Kravitz would lose his mind if they start growing a body in his neighbourhood. It’s already stressful enough for him to look the other way when they do necromancy shit here. 

Lup and Barry need to be there to monitor the experiment but there’s no real reason for everyone else to stay. However, Magnus’s table is full of friends while Lup’s body grows in his basement. The kids are with Hecuba, so Merle invites himself over. Taako can’t bring himself to leave. Days turn into weeks; a few sleepovers turn into a strange vacation.

Kravitz visits often, gently convincing Taako to go out for a walk or an activity with him, but never pressuring him to go home to his apartment. He kisses the wizard goodnight on Magnus’s porch. “Keep me up to date on that thing I don’t know about,” he says, then disappears into the darkness with moonlight shining off of his skull. 

“Bet your boyfriend has a bone to pick with me,” Lup winks when her brother enters the kitchen. 

“Nah,” Taako replies, “he’s chill.” He grabs Magnus’s apron off of the hook next to the door. It’s warm yellow with strawberries embroidered on it. “I’m thinking dumplings tonight, what about you?”

Cooking together was what they always did. When things got tough, they lost themselves in a recipe and the warmth of each other’s company and forgot about the world. “Sure,” Lup replies. But things are different now. She can’t taste any of the food. Her hands are cold when he passes her a dish. Instead of filling the room with a comfortable fire, her physical presence is dark and damp. And Taako has trouble ignoring that, although he wouldn’t trade this time for anything. 

Lup teases him about the garlic. They used to double the amount in any recipe that called for it. In retrospect, Taako thinks maybe a hidden part of his mind created thirty garlic clove chicken because of this. But he uses barely any now. The smell of it brings him back to the sound of choking, the sight of dropping bodies, and panic flooding his veins. 

He tells her this. She knew about Glamour Springs, of course, but she didn’t know about the recipe. “Shit, Taako, I’m sorry, babe.” She hugs him and he appreciates the gesture, but she’s cold and weird and not quite solid. He pulls away.

“Taako’s good, don’t you worry, sis.”

They cook, the boys eat, and days pass sluggishly. It’s kind of nice being together like this, and everyone knows that Magnus loves a house with a crowded table. Taako teaches him how to make churros. Merle teaches Barry how to garden. And Lup watches, wringing her shadowy hands together and wishing she could fully join them. Sometimes Taako hears a noise from the basement, but it’s only Lup – pressing her hands to the tube and shouting at her body to “hurry the fuck up!”

Barry goes down to the lab every morning. One rainy day, about two and a half weeks from the initial implantation, he comes up the stairs with an excited expression on his round face. “I’ve got some news –”

He doesn’t get the chance to finish because Lup is already sprinting past him. They hear the sound of shattering glass. “It has a latch...” Barry mumbles, his head in his hands. They would have to go to the black markets to find another tube, now. 

Taako watches Barry closely, looking for any sign of stress. Besides the general air of exasperation he always has, he seems relatively calm. Taako tries to take some deep breaths in the silence. This feels exactly like when he was standing on the deck of the Starblaster, watching Lup and Barry rise up from their bodies in their lich forms for the first time. Anxiety squeezes his heart with an icy hand. 

The footsteps on the stairs sound much more solid coming up than they had been running down. The door is kicked open and there’s Lup in her corporeal form. She’s dressed in the clothing Taako had bought for her – a black crop top with a pair of skeleton hands over the breasts and a pair of leggings covered in rhinestones. She’s smiling wider than she has in weeks. Taako thinks about Lup in her lich form, how he could recognize his sister in the shape of her ears and the way that she moved. But looking at her now – the softness of her shoulder-length hair; her dark, freckled cheeks; the angle of her nose – he’s overwhelmed.

Taako isn’t even aware that he’s crying until he realizes he can’t see. Lup crashes into him like a tidal wave on the beach planet. She holds him close and he presses his face into her shoulder. She smells a bit like Barry’s lab, but also achingly familiar and so very real. She no longer feels cold and misty; she’s warm and strong and alive. There’s something about it that slots everything into place for Taako and suddenly he’s consolidating everything in a way he hasn’t been able to before. He grips the back of her shirt tightly and cries for the ten years she was trapped and alone, for the years he lived wandering and scared, searching for something that felt like home. 

When he pulls back, Lup is sniffling too. Taako wipes her tears away and then just holds her face in his hands, squishing her a little like he used to when they were young and she needed cheering up. They’re exactly the same height now that she’s not floating a foot off the ground anymore. She laughs. Her eyes are shining.

“I missed you, Lulu,” Taako says. 

“I never left you.”

“I know.”

The others can’t seem to hold back anymore, and they join the twins, invading the bubble of space they had given them. Taako feels Merle hug him at the hip and he feels Magnus’s big hand on his back. Barry presses his face into Lup’s hair. He’s also crying. Lup gives him a big, wet kiss. “Gross,” Taako protests half-heartedly. 

Of course, Magnus is crying too. Even Merle wipes his eyes when he thinks no one is looking. It’s squishy and messy and way more emotional than Taako would usually be comfortable with. But he just looks into his sister’s eyes (a honey brown, no longer glowing red) and lets himself feel safe and warm. 

They clean up a bit and sit down in the living room with a fresh pot of coffee. Merle makes a group call on his Stone of Farspeech to the entire I.P.R.E. crew. His voice echoes from the foyer where everyone else hung up their coats. Taako takes his Stone out of his pocket and calls Kravitz. 

Lucretia takes a canon down from the moon base immediately, and everyone is delighted and surprised to see Davenport with her as well. He had just returned from a trip and had been visiting Lucretia when they got the call. 

Kravitz arrives soon after. He’s initially very concerned at the sight of everyone’s tear-stained faces, but then he notices Lup’s corporeal form and his face softens into happiness. “You look wonderful,” he tells her. 

She shoots finger guns at him. "You're just saying that 'cause I'm his twin." He laughs easily, as he always does.

Taako leaves to make a new pot of coffee and his boyfriend follows him into the kitchen, enveloping him in a cold but comforting hug. Taako presses his face into Kravitz’s neck and tentatively acknowledges that this is the happiest he’s ever been.

A rainy Thursday morning turns into a celebration full of tears, hugs, and reminiscing. Taako and Lup cook supper together and she takes charge this time, very excited to be able to eat again. They make arroz con pollo, their aunt’s recipe, and this time the smell of garlic and chicken summons fond childhood memories alone. 

They’re back – Taako and Lup, Lup and Taako.

He’s whole again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this story, please leave a review and let me know! I'd really appreciate it!


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